Donate today to keep Global Voices strong!

Our global community of volunteers work hard every day to bring you the world's underreported stories -- but we can't do it without your help. Support our editors, technology, and advocacy campaigns with a donation to Global Voices!

After more than four hours of debate, with 55 votes in favour, the Senate passed the death with dignity law which recognises patients’ rights “to accept or reject particular treatments or medical or biological procedures with or without justification, as well as revoking their past wishes”. The initiative indicates that a patient with a terminal disease can reject procedures, surgery and “vital support methods, when they are extraordinary or disproportionate in relation to the chances of improvement”. The patient is obliged to express their wishes to their doctor, who beforehand should tell the patient about their true state of health, the possible treatment options and their consequences.

The debate surrounding dying with dignity is even more important now following the wishes of the parents of Camila, a two-year old girl who has been in a vegetative state since her birth. The website Legislarweb [es] reports on the case:

Camila is emblematic of the current situation facing many families who up until now have found a loophole regarding dying with dignity. Three bioethic committees have assured that Camila's state is irreversible, however the doctors say that without legislation it is not possible to disconnect her from her life support.

“What we are going through as a family is both exhausting and painful, considering that we have a baby of 2 years and 3 months currently in a Permanent Vegetative State. My daughter's condition is irretrievable and irreversible and there is a loophole that is preventing us from withdrawing her life support” as said by the girl's mother, Selva Herbón, on several occasions.

But this has not been the only case in Argentina. Susana Bustamante, the mother of Melina Gonzalez, has also fought until the end for her daughter. The news agency Telam [es] tells of Susana's situation:

“She told me that to survive by being hooked up to a ventilator is not the will of God, more that it is the wish of the man” and that “when someone reaches the terminal and irreversible stage one must allow the natural event to happen after” meaning death, Bustamante recalled. Melina died on March 2, 2011, aged just 19 years old. She had neurofibromatosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system. It is incurable and principally affects the nervous system. An incurable disease, it paralised her body completely and made her drop to weighing just 20 kilos.

On Twitter the hashtag #Muertedigna (death with dignity) became a local trending topic after news broke out about the new law. There have been many different opinions. Twitter user Lean Fernández (@leanfe4) [es] says that the passing of this law is an historical event, and Lou A. Salomé [es] (@Lou_A_S) tweets: